Deferential is exactly it. Never forget a visit that great American embarrassment Colin Powell took to Israel, Sharon was pm. Photo op at end of meeting. Sharon could not have been less interested in shaking Powell’s hand (he’s got us there…) and when it became clear to Powell (everything eventually does) that Sharon wasn’t going to shake his hand, Powell leaned over and grabbed Sharon’s, beaming of course.
Oh Colin… Such a man.

White dress shirts and dark pants (occasionally white pants) are the uniform Sabbath attire for settlers and other Modern Orthodox. The exposed tzitzit fringes are the hallmark of the ritually devout.
The headgear with eyeslits is an added touch.
I think “deferential” is right. Border Police are often Russians of uncertain Jewish origin and non-Jewish Druze. The overbearing condescension settlers show the military is amplified when dealing with the non-Jewish Border Police.

The overbearing condescension settlers show the military is amplified when dealing with the non-Jewish Border Police.

Elliot,

When I saw the photo, I was going to post a similar comment. And then I read your comment.

Another reason why the uniformed policeman is shaking hands is because he has grown accustomed to grovelling to the masters in the hope of getting their approval. It’s the same reason why minorities in the Israeli Magav often behave worse toward Palestinians than do the Ashkenazi Jewish Magvniks (If there are any).

Uncle Tom, Middle East style.

And look at their postures. The policeman is saying, “I’m at your service, master”. The colonist is saying, “Welcome to my land. I own this place”.

The positive in this image of hooded settlers is that they know they are being watched.
The best money I ever gave to support the Palestinian liberation movement was a donation I made a few years back to B’tselem. The New York Times carried an image taken by B’tselem of settler violence. My contribution covered the cost of a camera that was given to a Palestinian activist on the West Bank.

You realize that making that admission will cause the ‘men in black’ (and no, I’m not talking about the settlers but ‘the other’ men in black) to come knock at your door and level you with charges of aiding and abetting terrorism, right?

MY COMMENT: The more extremist of the Jewish settlers essentially serve as Israel’s quasi-official equivalent of Mussolini’s Blackshirts and operate under the protection of the Israeli army, police and much of Israel’s Likudnik government! And Israel’s “Blackshirts” don’t just attack Palestinians. Read below about a scatalogical attack (with the complicity of the IDF) on a Jew visiting the West Bank from her adopted country of England/U.K.! It is truly like something out of the Dark Ages.

A REALLY CUTE EXAMPLE FROM SEVERAL YEARS AGO OF THE ISRAELI ARMY’S COMPLICITY IN SETTLER ATTACKS:“Jews protect Palestinians in harvest of hate” ~ By Donald Macintyre in Awarta, West Bank, The Independent (U.K.), 10/10/08
• Israelis cross religious divide to shelter olive farmers from settlers’ attacks

[EXCERPTS] . . . Born in Tel Aviv, Ms Siew served in the army, took a university degree, then a teacher’s diploma. Thirty-six years ago, she took the tough decision to emigrate to London, telling her parents: “I won’t come back until there’s peace.” Ms Siew, who is now 64, remains an Israeli citizen but now lives with her British husband in Hebden Bridge. She has kept to her word, except that each autumn she comes back to stay in her hometown with her relatives and spends each day of the two-month harvest season picking olives on Palestinian armland in the West Bank.
And Ms Siew does that for a purpose. Up on the ridge above us, you can see the red roofs of Itamar, a notably hard-line Jewish settlement, and she is here to help protect the Palestinian farmers from the threat of settler violence which has so often scarred the olive harvests.. . . Last year, she was in a group in the South Hebron Hills confronted by settlers who fired shots from a pistol and an M16 assault rifle, despite the presence of the army and police. “Then one of the soldiers said, ‘Look, one of them is coming down with a jug of water for you’. The settler emptied the jug over me. It was full of human shit.” . . .

P.S. RE: “Read . . . about a scatalogical attack (with the complicity of the IDF) on a Jewish woman visiting the West Bank from her adopted country of England/U.K.! It is truly like something out of the Dark Ages.” – me (from above)

[EXCERPT] A 19-year old Swedish human rights worker had her cheekbone broken by a Jewish extremist in Hebron today. Earlier the same day at least five Palestinians, including a 3-year-old child, were injured by the settler-supporting extremists, who rampaged through Tel Rumeida hurling stones and bottles at local residents. Palestinian schoolchildren on their way home were also attacked. The Israeli army, which was intensively deployed in the area, did not intervene to stop the attacks.
Tove Johansson from Stockholm walked through the Tel Rumeida checkpoint with a small group of human rights workers (HRWs) to accompany Palestinian schoolchildren to their homes. They were confronted by about 100 Jewish extremists in small groups. They started chanting in Hebrew “We killed Jesus, we’ll kill you too!” — a refrain the settlers had been repeating to internationals in Tel Rumeida all day.
After about thirty seconds of waiting, a small group of very aggressive male Jewish extremists surrounded the international volunteers and began spitting at them, so much so that the internationals described it as “like rain.” Then men from the back of the crowd began jumping up and spitting, while others from the back and side of the crowd kicked the volunteers.The soldiers, who were standing at the checkpoint just a few feet behind the HRWs, looked on as they were being attacked.
One settler then hit Tove on the left side of her face with an empty bottle, breaking it on her face and leaving her with a broken cheekbone. She immediately fell to the ground and the group of Jewish extremists who were watching began to clap, cheer, and chant. The soldiers, who had only watched until this point, then came forward and motioned at the settlers, in a manner which the internationals described as “ok… that’s enough guys.”
The extremists, however, were allowed to stay in the area and continued watching and clapping as the HRWs tried to stop the flow of blood from the young woman’s face. Some, who were coming down the hill even tried to take photos of themselves next to her bleeding face, giving the camera a “thumbs-up” sign. . .

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